What does Kubla Khan’s pleasure dome look like?
The speaker describes the “stately pleasure-dome” built in Xanadu according to the decree of Kubla Khan, in the place where Alph, the sacred river, ran “through caverns measureless to man / Down to a sunless sea.” Walls and towers were raised around “twice five miles of fertile ground,” filled with beautiful gardens and forests.
What did Kubla Khan hear in the pleasure house?
In the midst of this uproarious noise, Kubla Khan heard the voices of his ancestors prophesying that the time was near when he should indulge in ambitious wars. In the pleasure-house, Kubla Khan became addicted to luxury so his ancestors urged him to shake off his lethargic and luxurious life and be ready to the life of adventures and wars.
Why did Coleridge write at Zanadu Kubla Khan built a pleasure palace?
Coleridge had taken a dose of opium as an anodyne, and his eyes closed upon the line in the book, “At Zanadu Kubla Khan built a pleasure palace.” But this opened his creative vision, and the poem of about 200 lines was composed in this state of waking dream. On being fully awake, he wrote the poem down. The theme of the poem is unimportant.
What is the preface of Kubla Khan?
"Preface" of "Kubla Khan" (1816) The Preface of Kubla Khan began by explaining that it was printed "at the request of a poet of great and deserved celebrity, and as far as the author's own opinions are concerned, rather as a psychological curiosity, than on the ground of any supposed poetic merits".
What is a stately pleasure dome?
What does pleasure dome decree mean?
In which poem pleasure dome is described?
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| Kubla Khan | |
|---|---|
| by Samuel Taylor Coleridge | |
| Title page of Kubla Khan (1816) | |
| Publication date | 1816 |
| Lines | 54 |
Why does the poet aspire to build the pleasure dome in air?
What are the romantic elements in Kubla Khan?
Where Kubla Khan decreed a pleasure dome crossword clue?
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''In Xanadu Did Kubla Khan A Stately ... Dome Decree'' Crossword Clue.
| Rank | Word | Clue |
|---|---|---|
| 2% | KHAN | Kubla of Xanadu |
What is the tone of Kubla Khan poem?
What does Kubla Khan describe and what does it mean?
What is the theme of the poem Kubla Khan?
What does the speaker of Kubla Khan talk about in saying I would build that dome in air?
What does the Abyssinian maid represent in Kubla Khan?
What does the poem when we two parted mean?
Where is the pleasure dome in Kubla Khan?
What is the pleasure dome in Kubla Khan? The speaker describes the “stately pleasure-dome” built in Xanadu according to the decree of Kubla Khan, in the place where Alph, the sacred river, ran “through caverns measureless to man / Down to a sunless sea.”.
What is the Pleasure Dome?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Pleasuredome or Pleasure Dome may refer to: A stately palace built by Khan in "Kubla Khan", a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. the "Pleasure Dome" car on the Super Chief passenger train, named for the poem.
What is Kubla Khan?
Most modern critics now view Kubla Khan as one of Coleridge's three great poems, along with The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Christabel. The poem is considered one of the most famous examples of Romanticism in English poetry, and is one of the most frequently anthologized poems in the English language.
Why was Kubla Khan printed?
The Preface of Kubla Khan explained that it was printed "at the request of a poet of great and deserved celebrity, and as far as the author's own opinions are concerned, rather as a psychological curiosity, than on the ground of any supposed poetic merits. ".
Why did Coleridge include a fragment in Kubla Khan?
Coleridge included "A Fragment" as a subtitle Kubla Khan to defend against criticism of the poem's incomplete nature. The original published version of the work was separated into 2 stanzas, with the first ending at line 30.
Where did Kublai Khan's capital come from?
The first stanza begins with a fanciful description of the origin of Kublai Khan's capital Xanadu (lines 1–2). It is described as being near the river Alph, which passes through caves before reaching a dark sea (lines 3–5). Ten miles of land were surrounded with fortified walls (lines 6–7), encompassing lush gardens and forests (lines 8–11).
Who ruled the Tatars?
Tatars and paradise. The Tatars ruled by Kubla Khan were seen in the tradition Coleridge worked from as a violent, barbaric people and were used in that way when Coleridge compared others to Tatars. They were seen as worshippers of the sun, but uncivilised and connected to either the Cain or Ham line of outcasts.
Who visited Mount Amara?
Mount Amara was visited between 1515 and 1521 by Portuguese priest, explorer and diplomat Francisco Alvares (1465–1541), who was on a mission to meet the Christian king of Ethiopia. His description of Mount Amara was published in 1540, and appears in Purchas, his Pilgrimes, the book Coleridge was reading before he wrote "Kubla Khan".
What was Coleridge reading when he fell asleep?
According to the extended preface narrative, Coleridge was reading Purchas his Pilgrimes by Samuel Purchas, and fell asleep after reading about Kublai Khan. Then, he says, he "continued for about three hours in a profound sleep... during which time he had the most vivid confidence, that he could not have composed less than from two or three hundred lines ... On Awaking he appeared to himself to have a distinct recollection of the whole, and taking his pen, ink, and paper, instantly and eagerly wrote down the lines that are here preserved." The passage continues with a famous account of an interruption: "At this moment he was unfortunately called out by a person on business from Porlock... and on his return to his room, found, to his no small surprise and mortification, that though he still retained some vague and dim recollection of the general purpose of the vision, yet, with the exception of some eight or ten scattered lines and images, all the rest had passed away." The Person from Porlock later became a term to describe interrupted genius. When John Livingston Lowes taught the poem, he told his students "If there is any man in the history of literature who should be hanged, drawn, and quartered, it is the man on business from Porlock."
How many lines are there in the poem "At Zanadu Kubla Khan built a pleasure palace"?
But this opened his creative vision, and the poem of about 200 lines was composed in this state of waking dream. On being fully awake, he wrote the poem down. The theme of the poem is unimportant.
What is the meaning of Kubla Khan?
Coleridge composed his poem, ‘Kubla Khan’, in a state of semi-conscious trance either in the autumn of 1797 or the spring of 1798 and published in 1816. The whole poem is pervaded by an atmosphere of dream and remains in the form of a vision. The vision embodied in Kubla Khan was inspired by the perusal of the travel book, Purchas His Pilgrimage. Coleridge had taken a dose of opium as an anodyne, and his eyes closed upon the line in the book, “At Zanadu Kubla Khan built a pleasure palace.” But this opened his creative vision, and the poem of about 200 lines was composed in this state of waking dream. On being fully awake, he wrote the poem down. The theme of the poem is unimportant. It describes the palace built by Kubla Khan, the grandson of Chengis Khan, the great rule of central Asia.
What is the charm of the pleasure palace of the Emperor at Zanadu?
These lines further describe the charms of displayed by the pleasure palace of the emperor at Zanadu. The pleasure-house of Kubla Khan was a very romantic and beautiful palace. The poet here says that the reflection of the pleasure-dome fell between the fountains mingling with the echoing sound coming out of the caves created for the onlooker an illusion of really rhythmical music. The palace was the construction of rare design and a wonderful triumph of architecture as it combined in itself a summer and a winter palace. The top of the building was warm because it was open to the sun while the low-lying chambers were kept cool by ice which never melted.
Which ruler ordered the erection of a magnificent pleasure palace on the banks of the sacred river?
Kubla Khan ordered the erection of a magnificent pleasure palace on the banks of the sacred river ‘Alph’ which flowed underground for a long distance through unfathomable caves into a sea where the rays of the sun could no penetrate.
Why was the top of the building warm?
The top of the building was warm because it was open to the sun while the low-lying chambers were kept cool by ice which never melted. In the next lines, Coleridge introduces a beautiful girl brought from a distant country, to complete the picture of the romantic atmosphere.
When was Kubla Kahn written?
Kubla Kahn was written about 1797 and publised in 1816. It was not published in Lyrical Ballads.
Who is Dharmender Kumar?
Home » Samuel Taylor Coleridge » Kubla Khan (Xanadu) About Dharmender Kumar. Dharmender is a writer by passion, and a lawyer by profession. He has has a degree in English literature from Delhi University, and Mass Communication from Bhartiya Vidhya Bhavan, Delhi, as well as holding a law degree.
What is Kubla Khan's pleasure dome?
The first three stanzas are products of pure imagination: The pleasure-dome of Kubla Khan is not a useful metaphor for anything in particular (though in the context of the poem’s history, it becomes a metaphor for the unbuilt monument of imagination); however, it is a fantastically prodigious descriptive act.
What is Kubla Khan?
Along with “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” “Kubla Khan” is one of Coleridge’s most famous and enduring poems . The story of its composition is also one of the most famous in the history of English poetry. As the poet explains in the short preface to this poem, he had fallen asleep after taking “an anodyne” prescribed “in consequence of a slight disposition” (this is a euphemism for opium, to which Coleridge was known to be addicted). Before falling asleep, he had been reading a story in which Kubla Khan commanded the building of a new palace; Coleridge claims that while he slept, he had a fantastic vision and composed simultaneously—while sleeping—some two or three hundred lines of poetry, “if that indeed can be called composition in which all the images rose up before him as things, with a parallel production of the correspondent expressions, without any sensation or conscious effort.”
What is the rhyme scheme of Kubla Khan?
The first stanza is written in tetrameter with a rhyme scheme of ABAABCCDEDE, alternating between staggered rhymes and couplets.
What happened to the poet in his opium dream?
After this interruption, he was unable to recall the rest of the vision or the poetry he had composed in his opium dream. It is thought that the final stanza of the poem, thematizing the idea of the lost vision through the figure of the “damsel with a dulcimer” and the milk of Paradise, was written post-interruption. The mysterious person from Porlock is one of the most notorious and enigmatic figures in Coleridge’s biography; no one knows who he was or why he disturbed the poet or what he wanted or, indeed, whether any of Coleridge’s story is actually true. But the person from Porlock has become a metaphor for the malicious interruptions the world throws in the way of inspiration and genius, and “Kubla Khan,” strange and ambiguous as it is, has become what is perhaps the definitive statement on the obstruction and thwarting of the visionary genius.
Where was the stately pleasure dome built?
The speaker describes the “stately pleasure-dome” built in Xanadu according to the decree of Kubla Khan, in the place where Alph, the sacred river, ran “through caverns measureless to man / Down to a sunless sea.”.
What did Coleridge take to fall asleep?
As the poet explains in the short preface to this poem, he had fallen asleep after taking “an anodyne” prescribed “in consequence of a slight disposition” (this is a euphemism for opium, to which Coleridge was known to be addicted).
Overview
Kubla Khan is a poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, completed in 1797 and published in 1816. It is sometimes given the subtitles "A Vision in a Dream" and "A Fragment." According to Coleridge's preface to Kubla Khan, the poem was composed one night after he experienced an opium-influenced dream after reading a work describing Shangdu, the summer capital of the Mongol-led Yua…
Poem
The poem is divided into three irregular stanzas, which move loosely between different times and places.
The first stanza begins with a fanciful description of the origin of Kublai Khan's capital Xanadu (lines 1–2). It is described as being near the river Alph, which passes through caves before reaching a dark sea (lines 3–5). Ten miles of land were surrounded with fortified walls (lines 6–…
Composition and publication
Kubla Khan was likely written in October 1797, though the precise date and circumstances of the first composition of Kubla Khan are slightly ambiguous, due to limited direct evidence. Coleridge usually dated his poems, but did not date Kubla Khan, and did not mention the poem directly in letters to his friends.
Coleridge's descriptions of the poem's composition attribute it to 1797. In a m…
Sources
The book Coleridge was reading before he fell asleep was Purchas, his Pilgrimes, or Relations of the World and Religions Observed in All Ages and Places Discovered, from the Creation to the Present, by the English clergyman and geographer Samuel Purchas, published in 1613. The book contained a brief description of Xanadu, the summer capital of the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan. Co…
The book Coleridge was reading before he fell asleep was Purchas, his Pilgrimes, or Relations of the World and Religions Observed in All Ages and Places Discovered, from the Creation to the Present, by the English clergyman and geographer Samuel Purchas, published in 1613. The book contained a brief description of Xanadu, the summer capital of the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan. Co…
Style
According to Coleridge's account, the poem is an incomplete fragment. Originally, he says, his dream included between 200 and 300 lines, but he was only able to compose the first 30 before he was interrupted. The second stanza is not necessarily part of the original dream and refers to the dream in the past tense. Kubla Khan is also related to the genre of fragmentary poetry, with internal images reinforcing the idea of fragmentation that is found within the form of the poem. …
Major themes
One theory says that "Kubla Khan" is about poetry and the two sections discuss two types of poems. The power of the imagination is an important component to this theme. The poem celebrates creativity and how the poet is able to experience a connection to the universe through inspiration. As a poet, Coleridge places himself in an uncertain position as either master over his creative powers or a slave to it. The dome city represents the imagination and the second stanz…
Critical response
The reception of Kubla Khan has changed substantially over time. Initial reactions to the poem were lukewarm, despite praise from notable figures like Lord Byron and Walter Scott. The work went through multiple editions, but the poem, as with his others published in 1816 and 1817, had poor sales. Initial reviewers saw some aesthetic appeal in the poem, but considered it unremark…
Musical settings
Excerpts from the poem have been put to music by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Granville Bantock, Humphrey Searle, and Paul Turok; and Charles Tomlinson Griffes composed an orchestral tone poem in 1912 (revised 1916).
Canadian rock band Rush refers to the poem directly in the 1977 song Xanadu, in which the narrator searches for a place called "Xanadu" that he believes will grant him immortality.